Spreader device

ABSTRACT

A spreader device for distributing agricultural materials over a defined delivery path, the device including a container for holding the materials atop a conveyor system that distributes the material over a delivery path that is adjustable in width. In the primary embodiment the container includes telescopically adjustable sidewalls that enable a user to control the width of the delivery path.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates to spreaders and, particularly, to spreadersthat are used to dispense such things as organic compost, fertilizers,mulch and seed, and more particularly to those types of spreaders thatare used in large scale agricultural settings.

BACKGROUND

In large scale agricultural settings, such as farms covering hundreds ofacres, large tractors are used to routinely cover newly planted seedsand seedlings with fertilizer and mulch. Typically, seeds are planted inrows that are separated by bare ground over which the tractors wheelstravel while dispensing the fertilizer and mulch. The rows of seedlingstypically vary in width between as little as 16 inches and as much as 72inches. The tractor wheels typically span the planted area with one tireon each side, such that the mulch or fertilizer is best deployedimmediately beneath some portion of the tractor.

However, conventional dispensing systems use a type of spraying systemor fanning system to deploy the fertilizer and/or mulch in a widecircular pattern. These devices adequately cover the seeded area,however, they also deploy fertilizer and mulch outside of the seededarea and in particular into the unseeded tires paths, thus wasting asignificant amount of product during each application.

What is needed, therefore, is a spreader device that spreads adeliverable substance over a specific area without also coveringunintended and unwanted areas.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The spreader device according to the invention is designed to spreadagricultural materials such as organic compost, chicken manure pellets,and other fertilizers. The device includes a conveyor that may bepowered by a host unit hydraulic system, and a container with telescopicside plates that allows material to be fed with selectively varying pathwidths. For example, the path width may vary between 16 inches to 72inches for a single unit depending on the width of the planted row. Thedevice may be mounted on a mounting frame that is designed forconventional category 2 or category 3 hitch receivers so that it may beaffixed to the rear of a conventional tractor without having to modifythe tractor.

Once the spreader device is mounted on a tractor the tractor is drivenover a row, with its tires on either side of the row, with thetelescopic sides adjusted for the width of the row, and the conveyordeploys seed precisely over the row. Depending on the size of the farm,deploying the agricultural materials only in the areas where they areneeded as opposed to where they are wasted may save thousands of dollarsannually. In some embodiments, a mounting frame may be constructed thatis able to hold multiple spreader devices to cover a larger area, e.g.three spreader devices may be attached to the rear of the tractor suchthat the one in the middle covers the row over which the tractor isdriving while the spreaders on the side cover the rows to the left andright of the tractor.

The telescopic side plates may be constructed in a manually orautomatically adjustable manner. In one embodiment, the telescopic sideplates are adjustable by individual jacks, such as screw jacks that havea 15 inch travel span. The jack is manually cranked to extend or retractthe screw, which is attached to a single hinge point on a lower end ofthe side plate, with the side plate riding along a track that isattached to end plates of the container. In a preferred embodiment, thedevice is made of 304 stainless steel, with the conveyor comprising astainless steel flat wire belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a front perspective view of the spreader device accordingto the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the device.

FIG. 3 shows a close up side and front perspective view.

FIG. 4 shows a close up view of a portion of the front of the device.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the device with the telescoping sidewall in aninward position.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the device with one telescoping sidewall in aninward position and the other sidewall in a vertical non-adjustedposition.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the device showing both sidewalls in an inwardposition.

FIG. 8 is a front cross-sectional view illustrating the telescopingsidewalls in various positions.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the device showing the front of the conveyorassembly drive system.

FIG. 10 is a top view of the conveyor assembly.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the sidewalls lower plate.

FIG. 12 is a front view of the sidewalls lower plate.

FIG. 13 is a side view of the sidewalls upper plate.

FIG. 14 is a front view of the sidewalls upper plate.

FIG. 15 is a top view of the conveyor assembly.

FIG. 16 is a side view of the conveyor assembly.

FIG. 17 is a front view of the conveyor assembly.

FIG. 18 is an internal view of the end walls showing the sidewalls guiderail or guide channel.

FIG. 19 is an outside view of the end walls.

FIG. 20 is a left side view of the front end wall.

FIG. 21 is a right side view of the rear end plate.

FIG. 22 is a front view of an embodiment of the device where threespreaders are attached to a single mounting frame.

FIG. 23 is perspective view of one embodiment of the mounting frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present technology will now be described more fully in detail andwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which select embodimentsof the present disclosure are shown. This disclosure should not,however, be construed as limited to the particular embodiments set forthherein or illustrated in the accompanying drawings; rather, theembodiments discussed herein are provided so that this disclosure willfully convey the scope of the presently disclosed technology to thoseskilled in the art.

FIGS. 1-22 illustrate a spreader device 100 according to the invention,including a container 10 positioned atop a conveyor assembly 50. Thecontainer 10, best shown in FIGS. 1-7, has a front end wall 12 having agate 13 that is able to open and close so as to keep the deliverablematerials safely secured inside the container 10 while in transit and toallow them to exit the container 10 on the conveyor assembly 50 when thedevice 100 is in the desired location and in use. In operation thedevice 100 is mounted on a mounting frame 70, and example of which isshown in FIG. 23, that is then connected in a conventional manner to aconventional vehicle, such as a tractor, and used to disperse compost,chicken manure pellets, fertilizer, powders, mulch, seed, and otheragricultural materials over a desired, and contained, area, namely,immediately beneath the conveyor assembly 50 in a path that isapproximately no wider than the width of the conveyor assembly.

The gate 13 is controllable by conventional devices 15 that may bemanual or automated, for example, screwjacks or sidewind jacks may beused to open or close the gate. The container 10 also includes a rearend wall 14 and a pair of sidewalls 16. In one embodiment, best shown inFIGS. 7, 8 and 11-14, the sidewalls are telescopic and include an upperplate 18 and a lower plate 22, with the lower plate having a number ofvertically aligned insertion slots 24 and the upper plate 18 havingsecuring means 26 that are slideably attached in the insertion slots soas to slideably couple the plates together. A sheet, for example a sheetof high density polyethylene, may be inserted between the two plates 18,22 for wear resistance.

The front end wall 12 and rear end wall 14 are each affixed to the topsides of the conveyor assembly 50 at attachment points 51, shown in FIG.3. A cross bar or tube 28 is attached to the tops of each end wall 12,14. The interior portions of the front end wall 12 and rear end wall 14each have guide rails 32, best shown in FIG. 6. The side walls 16 eachhave insertion slots 34 that work in connection with guide rails 32 asthe sidewalls 16 telescopically move inside the container 10. The sidewalls 16 are pivotably attached to the cross bar 28 using conventionalmeans such as, for example, leaf hinges 36.

Adjustment mechanisms 38, shown in FIG. 3, are provided to adjust thebottom position of the sidewalls 16 inwards towards the center of thecontainer along the guide rails 32. As the bottom portions of thesidewalls 16 are pushed inwards the lower plate 22 extends. In theembodiment shown, cross bars 42 are attached to the outer ends of theend walls 12, 14. There are a number of suitable adjustment mechanisms,such as, for example, screw or sidewind jacks. In the example of thesidewind jack, an upper end of the jack is affixed near a midpoint 43 onthe cross bar 42 and a lower end of the jack is affixed to a lowposition 45 on the sidewall 16. The adjustment mechanism may be manuallyadjusted such that lower plates 22 on the sidewalls 16 slide in or outalong the guide rails 32 depending on the direction of the jackrotation. Depending on the position of the lower plates 22 the path ofdeployment of the deliverable materials is narrowed or widened.

The conveyor assembly 50, best shown in FIGS. 1, 4, 10, and 15-17,includes a base 52 that encloses a plurality of conveyor rails 53 thatare operated by a drive system 54 and around which a conventionalconveyor belt 56 runs. The conveyor rails 53 may, for example, include adrive shaft having a plurality of sprockets that is connected to thedrive system and a tail shaft that also has a plurality of sprockets.The conveyor belt 56 may be any suitable belt, such as, for example, astainless steel flat wire belting. The drive system 54 may be anysuitable conventional system, such as a hydraulic drive system connectedto a gear box that drives the rail. In the example of a hydraulicsystem, the drive system 54 on the spreader device 100 would beconnected to and controlled by a hydraulic pump conventionally providedby the host vehicle.

The mounting frame 70, shown in FIG. 23, is, generally, a strongstructure generally in the shape of container, such that the containermay be placed upon and affixed to an upper side of the frame 70. Aspreviously noted, the mounting frame 70 has a hitch that is connectablewith a conventional hitch receiver on a tractor, for example, it may besuitable for use with category 2 and/or category 3 hitches.

In general, and without any telescoping effects, the walls 12, 14, 16,are arranged roughly in the shape of a square or rectangle andpositioned above or on top of the conveyor assembly 50. The containerhas an open top and an open bottom such that a deliverable substance maybe inserted from above and placed on the conveyor assembly 50, boundedon all sides by the container 10. A screen 49 having a relatively widemesh may be placed on the top of the container to prevent larger rocksand debris from entering the container along with the deliverablesubstance.

It is understood that the embodiments described herein are merelyillustrative. Variations in the construction of the spreader device maybe contemplated by one skilled in the art without limiting the intendedscope of the present disclosure, and as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A spreader device adapted to spread deliverablematerials over a delivery path, the spreader device comprising: acontainer and a conveyor assembly, the container positioned above theconveyor assembly; the container including at least a front end wall, arear end wall, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall, the front endwall and rear end wall positioned opposite one another with the firstsidewall and second sidewall each configured as sides of the containerand extending from a position at or near the front end wall to aposition at or near the rear end wall; at least one of the front endwall or the rear end wall including a guide rail that is approximatelyhorizontally oriented near a bottom portion of the respective wall; theconveyor assembly including a conveyor belt that is configured todisperse the deliverable materials from the container, the deliverablematerials exiting the container beneath the front end wall, the conveyorbelt having a length that extends from approximately the front end wallto approximately the rear end wall and a width that extends fromapproximately the first sidewall to approximately the second sidewall;wherein at least one of the first sidewall and second sidewall is anadjustable sidewall that includes an upper plate and a lower plate thatoverlap and are slidably coupled to one another, the upper platepivotably attached to an upper portion of the container such that theadjustable sidewall may move inwards or outwards so as to narrow orwiden the delivery path relative to the width of the conveyor belt, alower portion of at least one of the lower plates of at least one of thesidewalls moving within the guide rail; wherein the deliverablematerials are placed within the container and atop the conveyor assemblyand the conveyor assembly spreads the deliverable materials over thedelivery path.
 2. The spreader device of claim 1, wherein the conveyorassembly spreads the deliverable materials beneath the conveyor assemblyin a path that is approximately no wider than the width of the conveyorbelt.
 3. The spreader device of claim 1, wherein the container includesa top and a bottom that are both at least partially open.
 4. Thespreader device of claim 1, wherein as the adjustable sidewall isadjusted inward the lower plate extends downward along the upper platetowards the center of the conveyor assembly.
 5. The spreader device ofclaim 1, wherein the lower plate has one or more vertically alignedslots and the upper plate has a corresponding number of protrusions thatare slidably secured in the vertically aligned slots.
 6. The spreaderdevice of claim 1, wherein a sheet is inserted between the lower plateand the upper plate.
 7. The spreader device of claim 1, wherein each ofthe first sidewall and the second sidewall are adjustable sidewalls. 8.The spreader device of claim 1, wherein interior portions of the frontend wall and the rear end wall each have guide rails and the one or moreadjustable sidewalls have insertion slots that are positioned in andslide along the guide rails as the adjustable sidewalls are adjusted. 9.The spreader device of claim 1, further comprising at least oneadjustment device that controls movement of the at least one adjustablesidewall.
 10. The spreader device of claim 9, wherein the adjustmentdevice includes a jack that has an upper end that is affixed to theadjustable sidewall and pushes or pulls the lower end of the adjustablesidewall depending on a direction of movement of the jack.
 11. Thespreader device of claim 9, further including a cross bar that extendsalong the side of the container and is affixed on one end to the frontend wall and on another end to the rear end wall, and wherein an upperend of the adjustment device is pivotably affixed to the cross bar. 12.The spreader device of claim 1, wherein the conveyor belt that iscontrolled by a drive system.
 13. The spreader device of claim 1,wherein the front end wall includes an openable gate.
 14. The spreaderdevice of claim 1, wherein the container and conveyor assembly areaffixed to a mounting frame, the mounting frame being attachable to adelivery vehicle.
 15. The spreader device of claim 1, further includingat least a second container positioned above a second conveyor assemblyand a third container positioned above a third conveyor assembly, eachof the containers and conveyor assemblies affixed to a single mountingframe that is attachable to a delivery vehicle.